When my girls were little, their elementary school began a character education program. Each week, a different character trait was highlighted and the children did various activities focused on that trait. For example, during the week that kindness was the chosen trait, the students had to define kindness, draw a picture depicting kindness, and give examples of an act of kindness they performed during the week, and kindnesses they observed from others. I thought it was a worthwhile program which took schools beyond the role of teaching a purely academic education and into teaching good values and integrity.
Knowledge without character seems to me a very dangerous thing. Adolf Hitler comes to mind--a man who was considered a genius and yet he had not one ounce of humanity in his character. A much less extreme example would be one of my dad's cousins, who has a Ph.D. in molecular biology, an important position working with the National Institute of Health, and has authored many ground-breaking papers about his research. Despite his high degree of academic knowledge and "book smarts" that go way beyond what most of us will ever know, he's very lacking in social ability. I remember he came to visit us once when I was a child, and he could barely carry on a conversation. He was briefly married once, never had any children, and basically lives a life of seclusion. I'm sure his lack of social graces has worked to his detriment in many ways over the years.
If I had to choose between one or the other--having a top-notch education or a stellar character--I would choose the character without hesitation. Having a great education is worthless if it doesn't bring you happiness, or if you don't have the ability to use it wisely and with integrity.
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